Posts Tagged ‘injury attorney’

I see this way too often. Someone gets hurt, and they decide that they’ll try to handle the claim on their own until they feel like they need an attorney. Then it gets ugly, and 2.5 years down the road, they have 6 months left on their statute of limitations, a tangled mess of a claim, and they struggle to find an attorney willing to jump in at such late notice.

Why mess around? I guess I understand…people hear so much negativity about lawyers, particularly personal injury lawyers, and they assume the worst. Injury victims feel like they might be victimized twice if they hire an attorney, when the truth is that they’re victimizing themselves by NOT hiring an attorney.

If you wanted to build a house, would you try to build it on your own until it was time to put up the sheet rock, and THEN try to get an architect and contractor to come and make sure it was all right? What are the chances you’ll just have to tear it all down and start over? Probably pretty high. But you can’t just start over with your injury claim; once you’ve made a mess of it, it’s a mess.

Don’t make this mistake when there is so much help available out there. Reduce your chances of making a bad situation worse. If you’re hurt in an accident, call an attorney. Call me 919-929-2992.

In general, the way auto injury claims work in North Carolina is that they hit you, you get treatment, then their insurance pays you for your losses. Easy peasy, right? Well, it’s not that simple, and if you have Medicare, it’s way more complicated.

When you have Medicare, they should pay for your treatment. Don’t let the hospital tell you they can’t/won’t bill them. They should take your health insurance, whether it’s Medicare or not!

But it gets even more complicated. When negotiating the settlement of you claim, you need to take into account what Medicare is going to want back. That’s right, you’re going to have to pay something out of your settlement to Medicare after you settle the claim.

Early in your claim, you should (or your attorney should) send a letter to Medicare asking them for a Conditional Payment amount. This can take months, so the sooner you ask the better. This is the amount you use for negotiation purposes to determine what you’ll have to pay them back from the settlement.

This will sound backwards, I know, but bear with me. AFTER you settle the case, yes, AFTER you settle the case, you THEN ask Medicare for their Final Payment amount, which is the amount they really do want back. It’s normally less than the Conditional Payment number, but doesn’t have to be. Medicare does take into account the cost of recovery (attorney’s fees, etc.), so that helps.

In a nutshell, it’s complicated, which is why you should seek competent legal representation. Call a personal injury lawyer. Heck, call me! 919-929-2992.